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Senior ALP figures critical of Ian MacDonald before ICAC

Peter LloydUpdated
Tue 26 Mar 2013, 8:09 PM AEDT

Senior members of the New South Wales Labor Party have taken the opportunity while witnesses at the Independent Commission Against Corruption to put more distance between themselves and the disgraced former ministers Eddie Obeid and Ian McDonald. ICAC is holding its largest ever investigation into allegations of misconduct and corruption, allegedly involving both men in the granting of suspicious mining exploration leases. Former Premier Nathan Rees declared the Obeid/McDonald era a 'stain on public administration' and emerging shadow ministerial star Luke Foley provided 'previously unheard of' details of a failed attempt six years ago to banish Ian MacDonald.

Transcript

EDMOND ROY: Senior members of the New South Wales Labor Party have taken the opportunity while witnesses at the Independent Commission Against Corruption to put more distance between themselves and the disgraced former ministers Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald.

ICAC is holding its largest ever investigation into allegations of misconduct and corruption, allegedly involving both men in the granting of suspicious mining exploration leases.

Today, former Premier Nathan Rees declared the Obeid/Macdonald era a "stain on public administration".

Peter Lloyd reports.

PETER LLOYD: It happened in Bent Street, central Sydney, at the Noble House restaurant.

Somewhere between the green tea and the fortune cookies, Ian Macdonald was told that the jig was up.

It was February 2006 - years before the events under scrutiny at ICAC now.

But the move to strip Macdonald of his pre-selection failed.

The Labor Party head office operative who tried to light the fire to get rid of him was Luke Foley.

Mr Foley's own ambitions may well have been a part of the motivation, for he's the party man who did eventually succeed Ian Macdonald when he finally went in 2010 after a scandal too far.

In evidence at ICAC today, Luke Foley made sure that history records which side of the argument he was on.

LUKE FOLEY (voiceover): I'd received over a number of years a chorus of complaints regarding Mr Macdonald's conduct and through my own observations I had formed the view that Mr Macdonald had lost his moral compass.

He was an agent and operative of Eddie Obeid.

PETER LLOYD: Eddie Obeid is the former ALP powerbroker at the centre of this long-running ICAC corruption inquiry.

Mr Obeid's family made $75 million on the back of land purchases and coal exploration licences granted by Ian Macdonald when he was the minerals minister back in 2008.

The closeness of Mr Macdonald and Mr Obeid earned tasteless nicknames in Labor ranks, according to Luke Foley.

LUKE FOLEY (voiceover): One of Ian Macdonald's nicknames was bestowed by Bob Carr - that he was Della's "pet crocodile". Another nickname was that he was Obeid's left testicle.

PETER LLOYD: Despite the apparent low regard for Ian Macdonald from the premier's office down, he survived the Foley-led Noble House intervention.

According to Luke Foley, Ian Macdonald was able continue in Parliament with the support of two key unions - the Metal Workers Union, represented at the lunch by Senator Doug Cameron - and the miners union, led by John Maitland.

Mr Foley says Ian Macdonald pleaded for his political life, partly so he could attend the Beijing Olympics.

A compromise deal was struck sometime after the lunch that would see Ian Macdonald run in the 2007 election on the basis that he retire in 2009.

That never happened, and the rest is now the history being unravelled before ICAC.

Luke Foley repeated his version of events outside the Commission.

LUKE FOLEY: In 2006, I sought to strip Ian Macdonald of his pre-selection because I felt he'd abandoned Labor principle and he'd lost his moral compass.

In 2009, I urged Premier Nathan Rees to sack Ian Macdonald from his cabinet and I'm very glad he did so.

PETER LLOYD: Nathan Rees made his second appearance at the Commission and cemented his narrative of moral outrage at the Obeid/Macdonald era.

NATHAN REES: these allegations, if proven, are a stain on the public administration in NSW.

PETER LLOYD: Mr Rees and Luke Foley are both from the left faction of the Labor Party.

Former ALP Minister and party historian Rodney Cavalier says they deserve credit for trying to begin again with voters, but he argues that others from the left have a lot of explaining to do about enabling Ian Macdonald's political career.

RODNEY CAVALIER: Both Nathan and Luke are honourable men and they have been involved in opposing Ian Macdonald for a good while.

The problem for all of them is that Macdonald was around since the 1970s and those who were awake up to Macdonald and consistently denounced him are very few - John Faulkner is one, I am another.

Most of the rest of the left were actively collaborationists with him.

Labor Party is controlled by a bloc vote of unions - Macdonald was there holy and solely because the Metal Workers' Union leadership wanted him to remain there.

PETER LLOYD: When you say the metal workers, can you put some names to that?

RODNEY CAVALIER: Yeah, people like George Campbell, Doug Cameron - the two obvious leadership people - plus the NSW branch.

That is the truth of the union bloc vote - that people get into Parliament and stay there because a particular union backs them in.